"A dramatic, colorful, stylishly-written history, Hubris is a much-needed reflection on war from a master of his field,"--Amazon.com. Sir Alistair Horne has been a close observer of war and history for more than fifty years. In this wise and masterly work, he revisits six battles that changed the course of the twentieth century to reveal the one trait that links them all: hubris. In Greek tragedy, hubris is excessive human pride that challenges the...

"The Paris Commune or Fourth French Revolution (French: La Commune de Paris, IPA: [la kmyn d pai]) was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 (more formally, from March 28) to May 28, 1871. In a formal sense, it acted as the local authority, the city council (in French, the "commune"), which exercised power in Paris for two months in the spring of 1871 ... The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870? January 28, 1871, and the...

Traces the development of Paris from the twelfth century to the mid-twentieth century, identifying seven key periods in the city's history. In this luminous portrait of Paris, celebrated historian Alistair Horne gives us the history, culture, disasters, and triumphs of one of the world's truly great cities. Horne makes plain that while Paris may be many things, it is never boring. From the rise of Philippe Auguste through the reigns of Henry IV and...